Everyone who reads IT Babble knows that I think Edmodo is the beez-neez when it comes to ed tech. When I wrote my review about the Edmodo, in order to keep the thing under control I chose to quickly note some of its features but I didn’t delve into their glory properly. Now I think it is time for me to rectify that mistake as I examine some features to show you what Edmodo can do for you and your class. A lot of these features have been greatly improved upon the initial release of Edmodo around two years ago. So read on past the break to get the low down on some sweet features from Edmodo.

GroupsIf you’ve read my review or have ever messed around with Edmodo you know that you give an invite code to a much deserving student and that is how they join the group. In the past you could send messages to individual students or the entire group, but if you wanted to send it to a group of students, you had to add them one at a time. It wasn’t hard, it was just a little tedious considering how hard the good people at Edmodo have tried to streamline the work flow in this fantastic web application.

Now that is a thing of the past. In Edmodo you can create smaller groups within the group. Perfect to communicate to a group of student who are collaborating on the same project. It is a nice feature, but it is not exactly on the top of the user interface. To get there you need to hover your mouse over the group on the left hand side.

​

That will give you some options on a fly out menu. From here you select Members. A list of everyone in the group will show up, and behold! There is an option to make a smaller group.

Click on Create Small Group and it will ask you to give it a name. Once you name your group it will take you to a small form where you select and send students to the new group.

That is it. Go to the Edmodo home and then when you send the group a message it will show up. Pretty handy eh? Just one more reason why Edmodo rocks.

Library
When Edmodo added the library it was pretty bare bones. You could scroll through the documents, that had been uploaded by you or the group, but there was no real way to sort, organize, or even delete. There wasn’t even a preview so multiple document sharing the same name could be a little tedious to sort through. Recently, Edmodo revamped their library system to let you keep all those documents, student examples, files, and important class information organized a better way. Clicking on library at the top will take you to the library where you will be welcomed with a new and inviting looking interface.

Here is what welcomes you when you enter your library-just check out those features.

It is pretty cool and easy to find what you’re looking for, but if you craze more organizational options Edmodo has you covered. You can create folders to move files into. To create the folder just click on the new folder (see picture below) and give that folder a name.

Once that is taken care of click on the folders you would like to add to that folder. At the top you will see the option to add it to a specific folder. That reads a little confusing so check out the picture. I’ve selected Mac basics test and want to add it to the Unit 1 folder. I just select the folder as I’ve done there and voila! I’m starting to organize .

​
There is still one more feature that I love about this library. When you create a folder, you can actually share it to a different class! All you have to do is click on the Settings icon (the little blue pencil in the picture) and then select Settings.

From here you just select the class you want to share it with and hit Save. That is all there is to that. Then that class will have access to all of those files at any time. You can also delete the folder if you’d like as well.

Just a reminder, you an upload just about any file and embed nearly anything that has an embed code as well. Edmodo plays well with just about anything. All you have to do is make sure your file is under 100mb. Other than that, upload, share, organize, and continue to Edmodo my fellow educators.

Need Advice on Tech Ed?

That's what we are here for. We want to help teachers and educators integrate technology in the classroom in sensible and relevant ways. Just drop us a line by commenting on any of our posts and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
And don't get stressed out...crack open a cold one on us :o)